Fit for Mars

Product Notes

'In a day and age when female singers all sound like they were stamped from the same laconic sonic cookie cutter, she's got the powerful potential to be the next Grace Slick or Chrissie Hynde" - Jeffrey Morgan, Creem Magazine. Earth to Jen... come back! If you're wondering what the Toronto based singer-songwriter and musician has been up to check out her latest CD. Jen makes a landing from a little whirlwind tour of her psyche with a rocket in her pocket - her new CD release entitled Fit For Mars, recorded deep in the heart of downtown Los Angeles with producer/songwriter David Garza (Juliana Hatfield, Glen Phillips), and mixed in Toronto by Michael Phillip Wojewoda (Barenaked Ladies, Rheostatics). Jen is known for her catchily crafted pop tunes, and this eclectic 7-song EP takes everything she knew before about making albums and throws it out the window - written and recorded guerilla-style with featured performers Jay Bellerose on drums (Aimee Mann, Paula Cole), keyboard player Dave Palmer (Fleetwood Mac), Mike Ensign on bass, and the dazzling David Garza on guitar. Jennifer made her Canadian indie debut a few years back with the album Speedyhead, produced by former TPOH front man Moe Berg and Gravelberries guy Paul Myers. As a member of The Pursuit of Happiness she's toured across Canada and into the States, and has sung and recorded with everyone from Melanie Doane and Sarah Slean, to Robin Black and the Intergalactic Rockstars. On stage performing her own songs she treats live audiences to her jangly pop blend on guitar, and gets down with her past as a child ukulele fanatic with a little crowd-pleasing electric ukulele rock. Along the way Jen has also made many appearances as an actor in film, TV, radio and live theatre. Fit for mars? "I read in the paper that if the time came to colonize mars, they wouldn't pick anyone who's overly introspective because it's so desolate and depressing there... and I kind of turned that into a metaphor for love. Thinking too much can get you in trouble (or me, I should say). And in songwriting too - this record was an experiment in writing and recording in the moment so each song is really different. And working in downtown L.A. next to "heroin alley" and surrounded by sweatshops definitely added a nice little bit of f***ed-up icing on the cake." Fit For Mars is a trip to the far reaches of loneliness and planetary colonization, out to idiots and acting, into fear and flowers, homesickness, homicide and, of course, zombies. Sure, it started out as a panic attack, but it blossomed - fitfully, fatefully into a rough, beautiful, catchy thing. Like Jen herself: an authentic thing.

Credits

'In a day and age when female singers all sound like they were stamped from the same laconic sonic cookie cutter, she's got the powerful potential to be the next Grace Slick or Chrissie Hynde" - Jeffrey Morgan, Creem Magazine. Earth to Jen... come back! If you're wondering what the Toronto based singer-songwriter and musician has been up to check out her latest CD. Jen makes a landing from a little whirlwind tour of her psyche with a rocket in her pocket - her new CD release entitled Fit For Mars, recorded deep in the heart of downtown Los Angeles with producer/songwriter David Garza (Juliana Hatfield, Glen Phillips), and mixed in Toronto by Michael Phillip Wojewoda (Barenaked Ladies, Rheostatics). Jen is known for her catchily crafted pop tunes, and this eclectic 7-song EP takes everything she knew before about making albums and throws it out the window - written and recorded guerilla-style with featured performers Jay Bellerose on drums (Aimee Mann, Paula Cole), keyboard player Dave Palmer (Fleetwood Mac), Mike Ensign on bass, and the dazzling David Garza on guitar. Jennifer made her Canadian indie debut a few years back with the album Speedyhead, produced by former TPOH front man Moe Berg and Gravelberries guy Paul Myers. As a member of The Pursuit of Happiness she's toured across Canada and into the States, and has sung and recorded with everyone from Melanie Doane and Sarah Slean, to Robin Black and the Intergalactic Rockstars. On stage performing her own songs she treats live audiences to her jangly pop blend on guitar, and gets down with her past as a child ukulele fanatic with a little crowd-pleasing electric ukulele rock. Along the way Jen has also made many appearances as an actor in film, TV, radio and live theatre. Fit for mars? "I read in the paper that if the time came to colonize mars, they wouldn't pick anyone who's overly introspective because it's so desolate and depressing there... and I kind of turned that into a metaphor for love. Thinking too much can get you in trouble (or me, I should say). And in songwriting too - this record was an experiment in writing and recording in the moment so each song is really different. And working in downtown L.A. next to "heroin alley" and surrounded by sweatshops definitely added a nice little bit of f***ed-up icing on the cake." Fit For Mars is a trip to the far reaches of loneliness and planetary colonization, out to idiots and acting, into fear and flowers, homesickness, homicide and, of course, zombies. Sure, it started out as a panic attack, but it blossomed - fitfully, fatefully into a rough, beautiful, catchy thing. Like Jen herself: an authentic thing.